In 2009 I attended a top of the line three week course in Protective Service. It included early mornings with late nights. Covered history (terrorism, protectees that were victims of violence, etc), live fire, driving techniques, and practical skills.
In 2014, I believe, I attended ISAs 7-day Dignitary Protection Course. For months prior to that I looked into a lot of courses and talked to a lot of people. During my research I stumbled upon ISA. After talking with Matthew Parker I was sold on his program. The selling point included his experience, his staff, and the curriculum which included advances, threat assessments, and information related to terrorism and Antiterrorism, as well as industry best practices for a driver/guard to a full protection detail. Training is based on DoD, DSS, and USSS protocols.
What also helped were the affiliations with IFPO and Henry Putnam Univ. not to mention POST certification hours which was transferable to my locale.
The following year I took an advanced course with ISA which was just as good.
Since attending those courses I have looked at a few others. Most I looked at did not have the depth of training; not to say they aren’t any good. And those that may have were a little stretch for my pocket.
I highly recommend attending other schools. You are sure to get something good out of it.
When comparing other schools with the depth of training and cost, there are few that compare.
In 2016 I took BPI 7-Day Executive Protection Course. It was an excellent course covering all the basics, but touched a little more on celebrity and intelligence operations. And a few dollars more.
The 7-day Dignitary Protection Training offered by ISA is superb! High quality instruction taught by those with experience.
If you decide to take ISAs course you won’t be disappointed and you will likely save a few bucks